AI calls on Azerbaijani authorities to release activists

Azerbaijani authorities are using the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic in order to prosecute their opponents, the Amnesty International (AI) stated on May 27, demanding to release the arrested activists.

"Amid the growing fears about the COVID-19 spread in Azerbaijani prisons, the country's authorities are not only considering the release of prisoners convicted for political reasons, but, on the contrary, under the pretext of combating the pandemic, are putting more and more critics behind bars," says the AI's statement posted on May 27 on its website (hereinafter, translated by the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent).

The AI has called on the Azerbaijani authorities to observe the principle of non-discrimination in measures taken to reduce serious health risks in jails, and demanded that persons detained on politically motivated charges also benefit from COVID-19-related release measures.

Politically motivated persecutions are a long-standing problem in Azerbaijan, where the government is using the justice system as a tool of repressions aimed at silencing the dissent and imprison critics of the government on trumped-up charges, the AI has stated.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on May 28, 2020 at 08:34 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.